We are very excited to announce our newest Nanodegree program at Udacity, the Data Foundations Nanodegree program! We have built this program for beginners who are ready to learn foundational data skills central to participation in the modern economy. Knowing how to collect and analyze data, create compelling data visualizations, and make data-driven decisions can have a very positive impact on your career development. Salaries for employees with data skills such as Excel, SQL, and Tableau range from $85-$92k, and these are exactly the skills you’ll learn in this new program.

Data Is Everywhere

Data is literally everywhere. Our growing ability to collect and analyze data, and turn it into actionable insights, is changing how entire industries operate—from healthcare to hospitality, marketing to manufacturing, ecommerce to education, and more. This means that no matter the industry or profession, and no matter where on your career path you currently are, foundational data skills are an invaluable addition to your knowledge and experience.

Derek Steer, CEO of Mode Analytics, is one of the consulting experts who helped build our curriculum, and he knows firsthand how important data is to the modern economy—Mode’s mission is to help businesses implement successful data strategies, and learn how to make data-informed decisions that produce positive results:

“Employees across our customers’ organizations are learning data analysis skills to contribute in new and more powerful ways, from connecting more effectively with their customers, to driving operational efficiency. It’s incredibly exciting to see the shift in how to drive organizational change at the individual level.”

Learn New Data Skills

Our new Data Foundations Nanodegree program is a full-featured offering, and delivers the same suite of benefits and services as all our programs do—real-world projects, expert project reviews, mentorship, career guidance, and more. We combine world-class curriculum, expert instructors, and a groundbreaking classroom experience to ensure graduates emerge fully prepared to start applying newfound data skills right away.

Leading global companies like Deutsche Telekom already rely on our data programs to train their own teams:

“Through Udacity’s data courses, Deutsche Telekom has trained their workforce with the relevant skills in data analysis, statistics and machine learning to ensure the employability for the digital business.”

The Data Career Path at Udacity

In addition to offering comprehensive instruction in foundational data skills, this new program is also an excellent stepping stone to our intermediate data programs. If you’re eager to advance an existing career, or launch a new one, we offer two excellent programs for you to consider:

Our Data Analyst Nanodegree program is for learners with intermediate data experience, who are ready to master the skills necessary to pursue full-time data science careers. Programming skills are taught in this program, and so it is ideal for those learners who wish to add programming to their data skillset.

The Data Foundations Nanodegree Program Structure

The new Data Foundations Nanodegree program is designed to be completed in 3-months (13 weeks). It is a single-term program, available for $499. All students will have access to the content for an additional 4 weeks, to allow you to submit and pass all the projects required for graduation, making the total program duration 17 weeks. Across 4 projects, you’ll develop proficiency with Microsoft Excel, learn to use Structured Query Language (SQL) to extract and analyze data stored in databases, and explore how to apply design and visualization principles with Tableau to create impactful data visualizations, build data dashboards, and tell stories with data.

If you’re a beginner to data, and ready to learn foundational data skills to increase your knowledge and advance your career, the Data Foundations Nanodegree program is perfect for you. Enroll today!

Christian Plagemann

Christian Plagemann is VP, Learning Products, at Udacity. Previously, he co-founded the Virtual Reality team at Google, and was the engineering manager responsible for Google Cardboard and the Daydream VR platform. Prior to Google, Christian worked on the autonomous car at the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Stanford University. He co-founded the 3D Vision Lab and Numovis Inc., a tech startup focused on motion tracking and computer vision for user interaction. Christian has a PhD in computer science from the Department of Computer Science of the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany (Autonomous Intelligent Systems).

There is a whole wealth of material that is absolutely still freely available on our site! But, there is also certainly some content that lives entirely within any given program’s enrolled experience. If there is anything in particular you’re looking for, please let us know, and we can try and point you in the best direction!

Hiya! It was the Data Foundations and/or Business Analyst nanodegree paths that I wanted to audit. Partly just to see how interested I am in those areas and how well I take to the course materials. I liked the earlier Udacity model of being able to audit courses and then having the option to pay for formal support and certification.